1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to backing up information in a computing system. More particularly, some examples of the invention concern using the Common Information Model (CIM) to describe data backup types and backup and restore objects.
2. Description of Related Art
Important data is often stored in computing systems. Frequently, a backup copy of data is made to prevent data from being lost if data becomes corrupted. If data becomes corrupted, the data can be restored from the backup copy. Consequently, it is important to be able to reliably back up data.
In a typical backup implementation, a backup client obtains data that is to be backed up, for example data from a database, and sends the data to a backup server. The backup server then stores the data on a storage device, such as a hard disk drive or tape. To retrieve the backup copy of the data, the backup server obtains the data from the storage device and sends the data to the backup client. The backup client then restores the data to the proper location.
In modern computing systems, operations for backing up and restoring data can be very complex. For example, there are several different types of backups that may be performed. Different types of backups include, for example, full, incremental (which includes all data since the previous incremental backup), differential (which includes all data since the previous full backup), copy (wherein the database does not truncate logs), LAN-free (which is over Fibre Channel), serverless (which bypasses the server such that data is sent directly from a host to a backup storage device), and 3rd party (wherein the data is sent directly from a host storage device to a backup storage device).
Further, different vendors of backup/restore products typically implement the various types of backups differently, using proprietary client and server communications protocols and overhead. As a result, each vendor's implementation is incompatible with every other vendor's implementation. For example, a VERITAS NetBackup™ backup server cannot be used with an IBM® Tivoli® Storage Manager backup client. This incompatibility prevents users from being able to use backup clients and backup servers obtained from different vendors, for example to take advantage of strengths of particular products. Thus, with the current approach, customers are “locked in” to a particular vendor, and must continue to purchase products from that single vendor, or alternatively, expend the funds required to replace their entire backup infrastructure. Consequently, known techniques for backing up data are inadequate because users cannot mix and match backup clients and backup servers obtained from different vendors.